Vantablack

Fireworks begin to fire from the lower portion of your vision and explode in the upper. A glorious fireworks display takes place, with colours beyond those visible on earth, in patterns that would be impossible in Earthly dimensions. [[Continue.->ch2-14]]

Are you quite sure you want to go back? [[Yes.->blah2]] [[No...->blah]]

It's... indescribable. Nothing else could compare; this is the absolute objective limit for the feeling of bliss. Nothing could feel better. But... It's all just in your head. Would you rather be in the real world? [[Yes->blah33]] [[No->blah33]]

|crow>[(link-reveal: "**SQUAWK!**" )[ |notearthnotcrow>[The crow looks at you, indignantly. [[Gah!->blah]]]]]

Just will it, and it shall be so. [[**WILL** To be back on Earth, as you were->willearth]] [[Actually... I had other questions->ch3_1]]

"No? What is wrong?" [[I cannot believe this.->ch2_2]]

You try to clarify, but something is happening, already. How soon? You'll only know when it happens... [[...->blah34]]

|crow>[(link-reveal: "**SQUAWK! SQUAWK! SQUAWK!**" )[ |notearthnotcrow>[The crow seems to laugh. "Of course, master. I shall wake you soon. Soon for a human, or soon for a god?" [[Soon for a...]]]]]

Me? Some millenia ago you were bored, and you decided to create a companion; you named me "Crow". There are very few limits on your powers, but you sometimes like to delegate tasks to me - to surprise you, to wake you from your dreams, to compete with you. [[I want to talk about something else.->ch3_1]] [[Very few limits on my powers, you say?->ch2_13]]

Almost anything. [[Almost anything?->ch2_13]]

"*Perhaps* a simpler hypothesis might be preferred, and when you had thoughts only of Earth *perhaps* the appearances would be most simply explained by the real existence of the very things you saw." "But matters are different now you have seen Vantablack." [[No - the simpler hypothesis remains that Earth is real, and this brief interlude in Vantablack is the dream, not the other way around.->hubba]]

You do almost anything you like; just will it, and it shall be so. (unless: (visited:"fireworks"))[[<**WILL** Some fireworks to give you something to look at.>->fireworks]] [[<**WILL** To be back on Earth, as you were.>->willearth]] [[<**WILL** To feel eternal bliss.>->bliss]] { (if: (visited:"know"))[(link-replace: "<**WILL** To know all>")[No, that seems like a bad idea. You can't quite recall why.]] (else: )[[<**WILL** To know all.>->know]] } { (unless: (visited:"friend"))[[<**WILL** To have a friend.>->friend]] (if: (visited:"friend")) + (unless: (visited:"2friends"))[[<**WILL** To have *another* friend.>->2friends]] (if: (visited:"friend") and (visited:"2friends"))[[<**WILL** To have a *real* friend.>->realfriend]] }

The crow interjects: "When do you wish me to wake you again?" [[At the end of my life in the dream that is Earth.->endof]] [[Soon: this is just a test.->justtest]]

Wait, what? This is just a computer game. Here you are, at your desk. Just a text adventure game. Time to get back to the 'real' world... [[Yes, the real world.->isitreal]]

Here you are, at your desk. You are supposed to be working, but it's proving difficult to concentrate in the summer heat. [[Continue.->e1s1a]]

The crow holds still. Perfectly still. And you find yourself doing the same, eyes locked with the crow. You are utterly unmoving. As you stare, it comes to seem that you are just a point of consciousness peering out from inside the skull resting atop this sack of lumpy mechanical flesh. You [[stare->stare]].

(transition-depart: "instant")+(transition-arrive:"blur")+(transition-time: 3s)[[Wake.->e1s4]]

The black remains, but somehow, things seem different. You are no longer looking out from a body; you no longer *have* a body, are no longer in a room. You now are *just* a point of view hovering inside this cloud of black. "At last you have woken, master", says the crow. At least, for some inarticulate reason, you *think* the voice belongs to the crow. You say: * [[What?->e1s6]] * [[I must be dreaming.->e1s5a]] * [[*Look around*->e1s5b]] (set: $guessdreaming to "No.")

"Ha! No, it may seem that way, but you have things backwards." [[...->e1s6]] (set: $guessdreaming to "Again, this is no dream.")

You turn your head - no, you rotate your field of view; you have no head. More black; the landscape - if you can call it that - is monochromatic, with no differentiation at all, even between any kind of land and sky; there is no horizon; no up or down; no light but also nothing obscured. It is a vast black blankness. The crow peers quizically at you, then [[continues->e1s6]].

"I know it is confusing, master, but you have been sleeping. You are now awake again and back here in Vantablack." * [[Where on Earth is that?->e1s7a]] * [[No, this is a dream; I must wake and get back to work.->e1s7b]]

"'Where on Earth?' No master, you are befuddled. Earth is an imaginary land; a place of stories. Did you dream of it again? Do not worry; any memories of those dreams will soon fade. Dreams can be vivid, but their deceptive power will wane now you are awake again. Was it a funny dream?" * [[I was at home, with the window open; it was summer...->e1s8b]] * [[I had a family, friends...->e1s8c]] * [[It was terrible...->e1s8a]]

"$guessdreaming". "You have been sleeping, and dreaming, and now you wake. Was it a good dream?" [[I was at home, with the window open; it was summer...->e1s8b]] [[I had a family, friends...->e1s8c]] [[It was terrible...->e1s8a]]

"Nightmares can be terrible, can they not? Do not worry, those dreams held no reality in them, and here [[all is well->e1s9]]."

"Summer! Yes, I forget that those Earth stories involve capricious weather. Luckily, here you need not subject yourself to such rolls of the dice. Here, [[all is well->e1s9]]."

"Ah, dreams can be sweet, can they not! But they are still dreams. Forget those illusions, you have no need of such things here. Here, [[all is well->e1s9]]".

If that was unreal, then... [[who am I?->e1s10]]

"You are the god *Vanta*. This is your domain. Do not worry: we have had this conversation many times before. Gods sleep rarely, but when they do, they dream deep and long. And every time you wake, we have a conversation like this one..." (after: 6s, 3s) + (t8n: "fade") + (transition-time: 2s)["It sounds as though you have been dreaming of 'Earth', but that is not real. It is just a fantasy, a place we tell stories about to pass the time. I remember our first stories about *Earth* many lazy moons ago, when we we strived so hard to imagine such an alien place. You can banish such thoughts now: again, you are a god, back here in Vantablack."] (after: 12s, 1s) + (t8n: "fade") + (transition-time: 2s)[[[ No...->no2]]]

"Ah, some trivial amusements? Very fine. But [[what else?->blah]]"

"We could say that your dream was all accurate, so long as we understood it to represent not an outer world but instead your inner one. Perhaps a word like 'tree' names not any physical object, but instead just *whatever* source tree-sensations might have in reality - perhaps it just refers to an idea in your mind." (link: "..." )["...In this way we could secure the conclusion that your thoughts while dreaming were largely true - you do have a house, a family, and so on. It's just... that words like 'house' and 'family' refer to ideas in your own mind, nothing external. In this way one could rescue the thought that Earth is real... but only by cheapening what it takes to count as real. Surely better to reserve words like 'real' and 'true' for things grounded in reality outside of one's own mind." [[...->ch2_11]]]

"So in a nutshell: Yes, your dreams were grounded in some portion of reality. But not in a manner that makes your dreams of Earth any more accurate. Vantablack is truly all there is." [[I have another objection, Crow.->still]]

Your powers are not quite infinite - the existence of other gods places at least some limits on each of you. But they are really quite immense. [[Continue.->blah]]

Suddenly: |crow>[(link-reveal: "**SQUAWK!**" )[ |notearthnotcrow>[The sound quite surprises you; you now realise that the world has been silent other than your conversation. Now that your attention is again on your surroundings, you notice some changes. The vast blackness is still black, but there are some slight differences in shading here and there; not enough to give form to the world, but enough that turning your point of view yields at least some effect on your visual field. [[Continue.->ch3_1]]]]]

"I know your dreams can be vivid. Did you seem to dream on Earth? Were those dreams vivid too?" [[Yes, sometimes.->one]]

The crow interjects again, in a more conciliatory mood: "Sooner or later, the mind tires of such metaphysical difficulties. What would you prefer to do?" (unless: (visited:"tell"))[[Tell me about yourself.->tell]] [[What can I do here?->what]] (unless: (visited:"earth"))[[I want to return to Earth, even if it was a dream.->earth]]

"Ah, good. Then you will understand what I am telling you: you are now awake, and your present memories of earth are just memories of vivid dreams; nothing real. Just as you understood that your dreams *on* Earth were unreal, you can understand that your present memories *of* Earth are equally unreal - just more dreams. You had dreams within your dream, but now you are back in the true world. Do you see?" [[I'm not really sure I do...->dreamdoubts]]

"It hardly matters? Forgive me master, but you are being foolish, and if not foolish, then heartless. Think of your greatest friend in the world; surely they matter to you? You cannot be indifferent if they are alive or dead; real or a fiction of your imagination. [[But my best friend on Earth *is* real!->nextone]]

"Is that so? I suppose your dreams on Earth were strange compared to the life on earth that you imagined during your other hours. But equally, the life you imagined on earth would seem strange to me, and in time, as your memories of Vantablack come back to you, you will come to think that your dreams of earth were likewise strange. In hindsight, with enough new information, anything can come to seem strange. That will apply also to your present memories of Earth." [[...->dreamdoubts]]

"Is that so? As I remember the stories you told about earth, human memory is a fallible thing, with holes and gaps. Perhaps some dreams there are remembered, and others not. Perhaps some humans remember their dreams, and others not. But *you* are a god; it is no surprise that your dreams linger in your able memory for longer than they might for some hypothetical creature with a botched and broken brain. Your memories of earth are memories of dreams all the same." [[...->dreamdoubts]]

"Here we arrive at questions about words. Earth has no basis on reality in the obvious manner: you can see all of Vantablack from where you are now, and you will see no earth, no cities, no humans." (link: "Still..." )["Still... you are right that *something* was behind those sensations. No sensation comes from nowhere, and even dreams are generated in *some* portion of reality - the *real* reality. But your dreams of Earth came only from your own mind - they are grounded in reality, but only in the part that is yourself." [[Continue.->ch2_10]]]

"Your life on Earth may seem long to you now. But consider: for some tiny creature, the dreams of humans might seem extraordinarily long. So too, from the perspective of a human, the dreams of a god might seem to go on forever. If your dreams of Earth now seem lengthy to you, that is only because you are still thinking in human terms, not - as is more appropriate - from the perspective of an eternal god.." [[...->dreamdoubts]]

(unless: (visited:"semantic") or (visited:"abductive"))[Crow! I have thought of another reason why Earth cannot have been a mere dream.] (unless: (visited:"semantic"))[[Even if Earth were some kind of dream, that dream must have some basis in *some* portion of reality.->semantic]] (unless: (visited:"abductive"))[[One should always choose the simplest hypothesis...->abductive]] (if: (visited:"semantic") or (visited:"abductive"))[[Hardly anything hangs on this discussion anyway; no matter whether Earth, or Vantablack, is a dream, there is nothing one can do about it.->pragmatic]]

"Your friend on 'Earth'?! I meant me! *I* am your best friend and it hurts me to hear you say otherwise!" [[At any rate, hypotheses about dreams have no practical value; one can only act with how things seem, no matter whether it is truly real or otherwise.->nextagain]]

"A practical person, eh? There is more to life than what you *do*, my friend; whether your ideas are sound and your feelings apt is important too. No good cheer can survive the fear that everything you know could be a lie." "Still, if you are happy to proceed on the basis that you are indeed here on Vantablack, perhaps that is good enough for now." [[...->ch2_14]]

You get the odd sense that the crow has shrugged. Can crows shrug? You feel a little lost. [[Continue.->hubab]]

The crow takes advantage of your silence to press again: "Anyway, what is simpler is surely a subjective matter - why not say the simplest theory is the one with the simplest universe, such as a barren emptiness containing a handful of gods; not a vast universe filled with enormous numbers of planets each more complex than the last." [[I am not sure... I have another objection.->still]]

You learn much. Too much; your head grows fuzzy with the weight of knowledge - not just of grand exciting theories, but also minutiae: the product of each digit of pie with the one 17 places beyond; the perceived cost of the average waterski in the Southern Hemisphere in 1974 in Earth; and too much more besides. [[Continue.->nextne]]

But too late you realise you have willed (link-reveal: "the impossible. ")[Take the sentence "This sentence is not true". You cannot know that: to know something is to know that it is true. But if that sentence were true, what it tells us - that it is not true - would have to be true. But it cannot be both true and not true. Perhaps you can instead know that the sentence is false? No. For it is were false, the sentence would thereby be not true, vindicating what the sentence says and ensuring that it cannot be known as false. Either way, you cannot know it, and so you cannot know everything. What you willed is impossible. [[Continue.->df]]]

As you come to understand the impossibility of knowing all, your will unravels. You somehow know less than you before you began. Your head hurts. [[Time to will something else.->blah]]

A *second* crow (link-reveal: "pipes up: ")[|crow2>[**SQUAWK!**] (link-replace: "...")[|crow>[**SQUAWK!**] (link-reveal: "...")[ Somehow, you feel they don't get along. [[Gah!->blah]]]]]

"Like on Earth?" [[Yes->willearth]]

Thanks for playing! I hope you enjoyed. -Alex [[Restart.->e1s1]] (align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[<a href="http://alexgregory.name">My homepage</a>]

Is this (you, here back on Earth) really real? How could you know? Your evidence, understood as the totality of all the experiences you've ever had, is just as compatible with the hypothesis that you are, indeed, a dreaming god. Or, any number of rival hypotheses. (link: "...")[(display: "real1")]

Perhaps the actual existence of Earth is the best hypothesis because the most simple - the least gerrymandered? But as the crow might say, why isn't Vantablack a simpler hypothesis: it's a simpler universe, at least. Again, your evidence doesn't seem to rule it out. (link: "...")[(display: "real2")]

Perhaps none of this matters; perhaps even if you *are* stuck in a dream, all you can do is the best you can in this dream world. So why worry? But some will find this too little consolation, and really do say - or want to say - that we live on Earth and not merely that we might as well pretend as if we do. (link: "End.")[(display: "real4")]

Perhaps the actual existence of Earth is guaranteed by the meanings of our words: perhaps "Earth" just refers to this thing we all know, and if it turns out to be a dream, or machine simulation, or whatever else, that just shows that the "Earth", which truly exists, is different in nature than we had thought. Or perhaps that is radically unsettling enough? (link: "...")[(display: "real3")]

|crow>[**SQUAWK.**] "See you soon." [[End.]]

You startle [[*awake*.->blah34]].

|crow>[(link-reveal: "**SQUAWK!**" )[ |earthnotcrow>[As you hear it, the crow flies into view. You've never seen one fly so close before now, and this one nonchalantly lands under your open window. As the inky feathers settle down, it slowly turns its head, side-on, so that one beady [[eye->e1s1b]] is peering perfectly at you.]]]

You reflect on how her eye resembles a small ball-bearing, shining in the sun. Or perhaps a tiny glossy tunnel? On reflection, an eye *is* a kind of tunnel, to the soul, or at least, a cable to the brain. [[Continue.->e1s2]]

As you stare, the crow's eye grows. No- you are moving towards the eye and that is why it looms larger in your field of view. No- it is growing. You cannot decide; the world is throwing sensations at you and all you know is that the crow's eye now occupies your whole visual field so that all you see is [[black->e1s3]].

"You (if: (visited:"short") or (visited:"remembered") or (visited:"random"))[still ]seem unconvinced that your life on Earth could be a dream. But why?" {(unless: (visited:"short"))[[It lasted too long to have been only a dream. ->short]] (unless: (visited:"remembered"))[[I remember the details too well for it to have been a dream... ->remembered]] (unless: (visited:"random"))[[My life on Earth was not bizarre as dreams are. ->random]]} (if: (visited:"short") or (visited:"remembered") or (visited:"random"))[[It just seems more likely that Earth is real, and *this* the dream.->still1]]

You get the impression that the crow thinks your insistence is somewhat childish. This annoys you, and as you feel annoyed you realise you are also weary of arguing against thin air. As if in response to this exact thought, the crow appears in full [[view->still2]].

Though... you aren't quite sure *how* he has "appeared" given that as you "see" him his colour is uniformly as perfectly black as your surroundings. Perhaps you are seeing as a bat might see; not colour, but space? The brief lull in the conversation gives you time to collect your thoughts a little better, and you find [[new ground->still]] on which to challenge the crow's story.

|crow>[(link-reveal: "**SQUAWK!**")[ |notearthnotcrow>["Ah yes, the dream. [[Enjoy, master".->blah34]]]]]